in the "hot seat"...

today was the day! I was in the hot seat for crim law. 30 pages on defenses. I prepared 9 pages of notes, meticulously briefing the cases so that I would be ready to respond to any question thrown at me.

the preparation was worth it! especially when it came to the procedural posture of Regina v. Kingston (defendant was drugged when he committed sexual assault on a 15 year old boy). The trial court convicted, the court of appeals reversed, and the house of lords reinstated the conviction.

However, those students in my class who already had "issues" with me were even more angry that I did a good job. I overheard the ring leader of the group shout after class in a snyde tone, "I know it ALL!"

I am trying very hard to ignore the negativity, but it is hard when it is so intensely focused in my direction.

My responses:

1. no one gets anywhere by acting dumb in law school
2. if you are on panel for the day, do us all a favor and be very well prepared -- otherwise you are wasting our time and your breath
3. I should know a little more than the average 1L because I have been working in the legal field for nearly 20 years!
4. don't hate me, utilize me -- I am ready willing and able to help my classmates who don't throw attitude.
5. it doesn't matter how well we do now, it matters how well we do on the exam -- so lighten up!!!

besides, sometimes a little knowledge can be a bad thing. case in point: we had our first legal research assignment on secondary sources. the hypo involved a spectator at a baseball game being struck by a ball that flew threw a hole in the net.

we were to search in the ALR index to find cases...and had to write down some "search terms".

my legal analysis background led me on a wild goose chase -- I spent half an hour searching the index under "negligence", "assumed risk", "sports" and a few others.

I broke down and finally looked up "baseball" -- duh! there it was!

If I hadn't had a legal background, that would have been my first search term. so it just goes to show that knowing that you know nothing can be advantageous!